Environmental suits fall sharply under Bush administration

Environmental suits fall sharply under Bush administration: group

Washington (Platts)--12Oct2004


The number of lawsuits the US government has filed against industry for
environmental violations has fallen sharply under the Bush administration, an
environmental group said Tuesday. A report by the Washington-based
Environmental Integrity Project said that in its first three years the Bush
administration's Environmental Protection Agency filed 75% fewer civil suits
against polluters for violations of the federal air, water and waste laws than
its predecessor. Electric utilities, oil companies and pipeline owners were
sued three times in President Bush's first three years, compared with 28 suits
filed by the Clinton administration, the report said. "In the last three years
of the [Clinton] administration, the Justice Dept filed 152 lawsuits in
federal court against companies for violations of the Clean Air Act, the Clean
Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and federal hazardous waste laws," the
report said. "But EPA's own records document only 36 such enforcement actions
in the first three years of the Bush administration."

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